an idealistic diatribe from a fat feminist

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Another Tumblr Question

I’m slowly making my way through my tumblr and pulling questions that I think are important for my blog. To see more questions like this one visit the FAQ on my tumblr.

Anonymous asked: As a person who’s made it my goal to make myself healthy, I feel like I should share this. I’m all for fat activism, but I think there needs to be a PSA about health. Being over weight is perfectly fine, but being HEALTHY is the most important. Trying to get on the right track in health will change your life. As someone who’s been overweight I can vouch for the change it makes in your life & I think it’s important to share this. It’s changed my mood and I’m a happier person. Health is key. Peace

No it’s really not. What you want to do in your life is fine but shaming people for not performing health or living in their body the way you think they should is crap. If you were actually interested in health you would be focusing on creating a society where health behaviors are accessible to all people. That happens by removing social and economic barriers to those behaviors by ending discrimination / stigma marginalized people experience. Not just fat people but all marginalized people are impacted physically and mentally by discrimination / stigma.

People that only want to focus on individuals transcending the constraints on their life to “be healthy” is not only damaging but completely ignorant of the reality that people live in. Assuming that fat people need to focus on being healthy when discussing fat politics also ignores the harm discrimination and stigma does to fat people, with true access to health behaviors becoming a reality when we are no longer marginalized. Not facing discrimination, economic hardship etc will drastically change the ability of people to engage with health behaviors.

A more productive society is a more equal society.

When I talk about health behaviors I not only mean having access to fresh foods and places to move your body but also access to stigma free medicine, including treatment and testing. You can have access to all three of those things and still face significant barriers if you don’t have the time or ability use them. Constraints such as physical ability, stress level, family dynamics, class status etc also changes someone’s ability to engage in those behaviors. Even someone who doesn’t have those constraints on their own life should not have their humanity given to them on the conditional basis that they perform health to make other people comfortable.

THIS!!
I’m a bit of a health nut (not extreme, but a bit) and I’m also fat. I love being a health nut, and I love it even more that I now know that I can be both healthy and fat! But just because I love it and feel it’s been good for my life, doesn’t mean that it will work the same for everyone else. I’m ahoy to share my experience with anyone who wants to hear, but no one is under any obligation to me or anyone else to maintain any arbitrary level of health. We all have to make that choice for ourselves. After all, there are bigger health nuts than me out there (and health nuts with different health philosophies) and I’m not obligated to reach their standards or definition of health either. Why would I impose that on anyone else? Every individual’s definition of health is different and arbitrary.
I especially love that you address issues of privilege and access in this post. You are absolutely right that many people don’t have access to things they might want to utilize to improve their health. I’d love to bike commute more, for example, but I don’t have access to very safe roads for biking in much of my city. Many people would love to eat healthier, but live in a food desert. There are cities in this country that don’t even have sidewalks to walk on. Most Americans spend so much time working and commuting they can’t even find enough time for quality sleep, let alone exercise. Access is a huge issue in pursuing health goals, whatever they may be.
Thanks for this excellent post.

now i’m actually starting to realize that Tumblr delivers a additional functionality than the things that I was thinking.
Though I have never always been a dedicated member until recently I really
have seeen that tumblr is now a fairly wonderful site for me to finally become familiar wirh a lot from networking along with other people,
impart views, on top of that drive clicks for corporations who acknowledge itts purpose.
this is unbelievable tht i’m merely exploring this
now